This has been a hard year for John and me. With the devastating loss of the best cat that ever lived, my Ryan, who died last March. We also lost Timi, the mother of my beloved kittens in August. Timi was John’s favorite.
John was hospitalized and was in rehab at a nursing home for several months. I had some health issues of my own. The country is going to hell, and the world is less safe than anything I’ve known in my lifetime. It seemed every day there was something to challenge my good humor and destroy my sparkling personality.
But there was one bright spot.
In June a friend and neighbor posted a picture on Facebook of a kitten that was dumped in front of her house. She was looking for someone to adopt her. I took one look at the face of this little Tabico kitten and knew I had to have her.
I was still aching from the loss of Ryan and Timi. A new kitten was the last thing I ever thought I’d want or need. But there was something about this girl. John called me that morning. He had seen the photo too and asked if I had seen it. I said I did and I wanted her. He was not surprised. I contacted my friend who came right over with this adorable kitten.
The first thing she did was play with a toy with feathers. I named her Sally, after Burlesque queen, Sally Rand who was known for dancing with feathers. My Sally loved to dance with her feathers too.
As of this writing, Sally is nearly five months old. Sally is not at all like Ryan, even though she has a bit of a Ryan look about her. Ryan was an angel. Sally can be angelic, but she can also be a little devil. She is Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde. But she is a kitten, after all. It has been 15 years since I had kittens around the house. I guess I’ve forgotten about their naughty antics.
As Sally grows, her personality leans more toward lover than fighter. She follows me around the house during the day and sleeps with John at night. She paws, hisses, and fights with her step sisters. Poor girls are 15 yrs. old, and slept day and night before Sally showed up. Now they are getting their exercise as they chase her through the house and certainly hold their own against this little maniac running around the house. There is lots of chasing, and even a little fur flying, but that seems to be waning. I have seen them exploring one another, sniffing, and even sleeping together now and then. Sally just has to learn the boundaries. She already knows the spray bottle means business. One look at it is all she needs to stop her in her tracks when she digs in my plants, tries to bite my hand, or picks on her sisters.
